How can I become a motorcycle test rider for either a team or manufacture,ie kawasaki ,yamaha or the others?

I love motorcycles and would love to test them for a career. I was just wondering if this was even possible.|||Test piloting motorcycles requires becoming familiar with what your doing.Lots of time,practice and dedication,talent and a little money don`t hurt either.Every person that works on his bike and races is basically a test pilot,You got to be ready for anything flying around at them speeds,cause a mistake building the bike can wreck your whole day.A good rider knows how his machine will react and if they are worth their salt they can anticipate and plan moves ahead,but even the best can have a bad day.Learn from your mistakes,cause they can hurt a lot and you don`t want to be repeating it.Basically mate, DO IT.I did,so did my dad,uncles and grandfather.We all raced.My uncle was the one who done the stage 3 kit for the Yamaha MT.It all starts with racing and riding lots of different machines,for years and being good enough to earn respect and having some brains and mechanical knowledge,so people will not only listen to what you have to say but give your opinion on a bike some worth|||Unless you are an ex racer you will never be a test rider for a manufacturer!!!!


With regards to race teams, it is basically the same except you would have to be a "privateer" who is doing well in their class of racing. IE 125cc or 250cc and looking for a promoter and sponsor for the next season, Then you have to get noticed, as being a reliable and progressive rider always making points on the grid..


Then if you are lucky through your pit connections and through the head hunters you will get a chance to work with the bigger teams, This would be in contest to your racing career and you would have to sacrifice your racing to support a star team... Showing commitment to the team and the star rider.


So it is a catch 22 situation; Either be an ex race rider.... or a race rider happy to end their career.





AND if you were to go down the press avenue and be a correspondent or reporter, you will have to have a previous reputation and following. BTW FEW and I do mean FEW writers for the major publications actually get to ride anything other the run of the mill; again only the ex race or sponsored race riders get to play with the big toys..





Your third option, ( AND THE MOST LIKELY) Is to get employed by a bike shop working in the workshop preparing bikes for the customer PDI inspections ( you can even get an NVQ qualification); You will then also need a full bike licence and public indemnity insurance and i would go for a specialist or advanced driving qualification.


Then you will be invited to ride each bike to assess its condition and ensure it is sound and suitable for sale and write a full 100 point report on the bike, even assess it's second hand / resale/ value and Gross profit. work out the market and even make decisions if the bike is suitable for sale by your shop or better passed on to another dealer.


It's a start from the bottom up job, fetching coffees moping floor dusting bikes and cleaning loo's before getting to the cream


Good luck|||You would need to live close to the factory to use the factory test facilities. But chances are you would have a easier time getting a job as a writer at one of the cycle rags and work your way up to test drives, since all the companies give the rags bikes to test ride for a set period of time. That way you ride on the roads you want to etc. But again, chances are you are gonna have to live around southern California where most of this stuff comes out of.





Depending on where you live you might want to explore getting involved in motorcycle "adventure" riding. It is where people would pay you to house them, feed them and provide a motorcycle for them to be able to ride on some sort of adventure. If you live in a mountainous state, the great local roads that outsiders would not know. If in a desert state, on/off road rides thru the desert. If along a coast-rides along some great water roadways. Of course you would have to supply the bikes, the gear van to take their luggage to the next stop, and a replacement vehicle for when your customers bike that you supplied breaks down.|||You can probably go to your local motorcycle dealer to find that out. Or you can just call their phone number which would probably be on their website. I hope this helps.|||it can be pretty hard mate because usually the people that do the jobs are ex racers from many forms of motorbike racing|||They use pro racers for that.